i did (base an exemple i found on the net) a small VB script that generates
a playlist in each folder. Generated playlist are named "_List.m3u" and are
sorted by path+filename.

It took me one minute and half to run the script on my AJBR20 using USB1
over 20GB of mp3s (3500 files) and to generate about 400 playlists. there is
no progress bar or what ever.
to launch the script (under windows2000 and xp, i don't know about 98) : do
a
"PlaylistMaker e:" in the dosprompt and wait for the popup window tell you
that the script is now done.